After July 23's special town meeting, the proposed $10.7 million Wiscasset school budget is intact as it heads to a final vote at the polls Sept. 1.

In split votes throughout, voters rejected proposed amendments that would have lowered different cost centers' amounts; and then, also in split votes, they approved the amounts the school committee proposed earlier this month after voters rejected a higher budget offer in June.

"The first budget, we went through line by line as a board. We had goals at the beginning that we did not want to cut the personnel or programming for students. That was a goal that we stated on our way in," Chair Tracey Whitney told voters in Wiscasset Middle High School's Stover Auditorium.

"We went line by line through that budget, very transparently in front of everyone who cared to watch, cutting as close as we felt we could without impacting students. And without impacting staff. We came up with the first budget because of that, and we spent months working on that. After the (losing) budget vote, we came back and we said to (Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kim Andersson), 'OK, let's get it as flat as we can'" with last year, Whitney continued. "And if you go back and you look at our budget workshops, they are all on YouTube, you can see the hours that we put into this to try to offer a budget that gave our students what they needed, did not cut staffing, and gave our community as low a rate as possible."

Whitney added, she stands by the first proposal, and this one. 

Opponents to the offer, or parts of it, cited student performance and behavior issues and declined enrollment. For all the local funding that goes into the schools, where are the results, Chet Grover asked. "When are our kids going to get the education they deserve ... I'm sick and tired of waiting for results. You people should be, too," he said looking to fellow residents in the folding chairs. 

Ed Polewarczyk asked what justified spending more than the state requires.

Whitney answered, the state sets the minumum. "We then looked at what were the needs of our community, and our teachers, and our classrooms. And that is what the additional is for ... We went through and whittled away and came up with what was necessary for our schools to function properly."

Lucy Oyster supported the proposed funding. She said teachers are going out of their way "to make sure our students succeed ... And for anybody to tell me that my children and their friends ... are not worth (what's proposed), I have a problem with that."

At the end, Moderator Susan Blagden received thanks, and she said: "Thank you all, for a very polite meeting."

The Sept. 1 vote is from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Wiscasset Community Center.

Asked for comment on the night's outcome, Andersson said, "Thanks to all the Wiscasset voters who showed up at tonight’s special town meeting. I'd especially like to thank Moderator Susan Blagden for her service. Susan is a skillful moderator who runs an efficient and proper meeting. She has led the Town of Wiscasset through many difficult meetings doing the people’s work and tonight was no different.

"I’m glad the revised budget was passed as presented tonight and thank all who showed up to raise their pink cards. We are halfway there! Next step is the Budget Validation Referendum" Sept. 1.

According to slides from the night's budget presentation, regular education is down $43,219 from last year, to $3,616,514; special education is up $123,892, to $2,716,468; other instruction, down $5,707, to $393,953; student and staff support, up $34,920, to $824,271; system administration, up $20,897, to $545,141; school administration, up $2,963, to $617,829; transportation and buses, down $58,552, to $639,884; facilities and maintenance, down $82,827, to $1,332,428; food service transfer, flat at $50,000; and the total budget, down $7,633, to $10,736,486.